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West African agricultural produce marketed via technology, radio waves

By Ike Iyioke

Photo by Steve Longabaugh, Department of Agricultural Economics One of the market information system enumerators, is seen at his desk in Koulikoro, Mali. There are 24 market information system offices like this across Mali.

This summer, two MSU researchers are promoting regional agricultural trade in West Africa by distributing up-to-date market data via radio broadcasts to farmers and traders in remote areas.

With support from the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, the West Africa Market Information and Agricultural Trade Promotion project, operating out of Mali, will coordinate national Market Infor-mation Systems (MIS) of Mali, Niger and Guinea.

“Market Information Systems is an organization that gathers information for agricultural markets about prices and other market conditions, then analyzes the data and diffuses the information via radio broadcasts in the form of farm news reports to farmers, consumers and policymakers,” said John Staatz, professor of agricultural economics.

Building on what already exists in Mali – thanks to previous MSU efforts supported by the U.S. Agency for International Development – MIS staff members are visiting area markets and recording the high and low prices for grains, crops and livestock. Once the statistics are recorded on solar-powered laptops, the information is e-mailed via radio waves to regional offices, where the data are sorted and compiled.

Radio stations under contract with the project routinely broadcast the market reports to their listeners.
In a region where AM/FM mini radio sets are as common as telephones in average American homes, the farm-pricing FM radio show brings up-to-date prices on crops and livestock to listeners across the region.

About 70 percent of Mali’s 11 million people routinely tune in to the market report.

Staatz and Nango Dembele, visiting assistant professor of agricultural economics, seek to extend the project to the ECOWAS (Economic Community of West African States) trading bloc composed of 15 countries on Africa’s west coast.

“The farmer will benefit through increased demand for his products by linking to a broader regional market,” Staatz said. “Knowing when and where to sell, and for what price, makes a great difference.”

Because of the cross-border trading involved, the MIS networks will include, as part of their activities with the traders, much-needed commercial information such as who is a reliable trading partner in neighboring countries, what the grades and standards are required by importers, as well as what the import regulations are.

“The regional traders’ network with which we are working is open to all countries in ECOWAS, and ECOWAS is now going to be sponsoring regional agricultural market outlook conferences that MSU helped initiate in 1999 during a previous phase of our work on regional market information,” Staatz said.

Increases in regional trade will be assessed by fall 2008 to demonstrate the benefits of this project. With the Mali example, where an average millet farm has added $100 to its annual income, this project is expected to be just as promising. Millet belongs to a group of small-seeded species of cereal crops, or grains, grown around the world for animal and human food.